Gavin O'Connor (director)
|birth_place = Long Island, New York |education = University of Pennsylvania |spouse = Angela Shelton (m. 1995–1996) Brooke Burns (m. 2013) |children = 1 |occupation = Director, screenwriter |yearsactive = 1992–present }} Gavin O'Connor (born October 30, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, playwright, and actor. He is best known for directing the films Miracle, Warrior and The Accountant. Life and career Gavin O'Connor was raised in Huntington, New York, on Long Island. He wrote and produced Ted Demme's directorial debut, the short film The Bet. Three years later, he made his own feature film co–writing and directing debut with Comfortably Numb, about the moral dilemmas facing a Connecticut preppie-turned-New York City prosecutor; the film was screened at both the Cannes Film Festival and the Boston Film Festival. O'Connor then turned to the stage, producing, writing, and starring in the Off-Broadway play Rumblings of a Romance Renaissance in 1997. At the same time, O'Connor began work on a screenplay based on then-wife Angela Shelton's memories of her childhood spent on the road with her serial-marrying mother. Impressed by Tony Award-winning British actress Janet McTeer's appearance on Charlie Rose's talk show in 1997, he was determined to cast her in what had become Tumbleweeds (in which he co-starred); he and Shelton were forced to finance the film themselves after being unable to find backers. The movie won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival; McTeer's performance earned her a Golden Globe as Best Actress and Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild nominations in the same category; and Kimberly J. Brown, cast as her pre-teen daughter, won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance. After serving as executive producer of several smaller, independent projects, O'Connor directed Walt Disney Pictures' Miracle (2004), a film about the United States hockey team's victory in the 1980 Winter Olympics. He also produced the HBO Film, "The Smashing Machine", that chronicled the struggles of fighter Mark Kerr. With his twin brother Greg, O'Connor founded Final Cut Features, designed to assist independent filmmakers with post-production financing and services. As either producer or director (or both), he became involved in six projects that were scheduled for release in 2007 and 2008. O'Connor filmed the MMA film Warrior, for which he wrote the screenplay and directed. The film received a 2011 release, through Lions Gate Entertainment. As of 2013, O'Connor is working on adapting the novel The Hustler into a stage play. In April 2013, he signed on to direct Jane Got a Gun. He executive produced and directed the pilot of the FX series ''The Americans''. He will serve as a director and executive producer on the upcoming Netflix series Seven Seconds. He is known for his collaborations with actor Noah Emmerich, who has appeared in all of O'Connor's films except Comfortably Numb and The Accountant. In June 2014, O'Connor was set to direct his upcoming action-adventure film, Massacre in the Himalayas, which Gianni Nunnari's Hollywood Gang Productions will produce about the murder of ten climbers and the local Pakistani cook who are intent on conquering the K2 summit. He will direct the WW2 drama Atlantic Wall starring Bradley Cooper. In 2017, he will replace Matt Damon as director of Father Daughter Time. On September 6, 2017, O' Connor landed the role of director and writer of Suicide Squad 2. By October, O'Connor had exited the project due to his story treatment reportedly being identical to Birds of Prey, as well as his commitments to Torrance. He has been connected to a Brad Inglesby-scripted drama Torrance, alongside his former colleague Ben Affleck from The Accountant. He will likely act as a producer. Personal life O'Connor married actress/model Brooke Burns on June 22, 2013. He was previously married to Angela Shelton. Filmography TV roles References External links * Category:1964 births Category:American male actors Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:Film producers from New York (state) Category:American male screenwriters Category:American theatre directors Category:Living people Category:People from Long Island Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:Film directors from New York (state) Category:English-language film directors Category:People from Huntington, New York Category:American male dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American male writers Category:Screenwriters from New York (state)